forbidden (illicitus) wrote in the_colony, @ 2010-09-24 20:13:00 |
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Entry tags: | ^ week 20, jed bailey, thomas galloway, | jed and tom |
Week 20: Thursday
Characters:Jed and Tom
Location: The Farm
Summary: After both men have a chance to cool down and collect their thoughts, Tom and Jed discuss the earlier fight.
Rating: PG
It took Tom a good fifteen minutes to calm down after breaking up the fight between Jed and Derek. To pass the time he played with Rollo, tossing a stick and letting the dog chase after it and bring it back to him.
He was still upset with himself for losing his temper with the men, but dammit he’d thought both of them had more sense than they’d shown today. The group couldn’t afford the kind of nonsense that had gone on in the barn, but there also needed to be some way to settle disputes that had gone beyond words or they would fester and do even more damage over time. Maybe pugil sticks like the Marine Corps had used, or boxing gloves, a way to vent frustrations in a way that wouldn’t cause permanent harm .
The veteran was still pondering the situation when he spotted Jed coming back from the walk he’d started after the fight. Figuring there was no time like the present to limit the fallout, he moved to intercept the other man.
The walk had been long and quiet and cold, and with the whole world that calm, Jed couldn’t help but quiet down. His head still felt a bit heavy, thinking over what Tom had said and why he’d been angry and what Derek said, but he didn’t feel like hitting anyone any more. That didn’t stop him from tensing when he saw Tom coming his way. Was he in for a personal lecture this time?
Not sure what to say, he nodded at Tom, stopping short.
“I was out of line on the ‘dumb kid’ comment,” Tom offered once the other man had nodded, clearly willing to listen. “Not that I don’t think it was stupid to let yourself get goaded into fighting, but I could have said it better.” He wasn’t going to apologize for his thoughts of Texans, the younger members of that group did seem predisposed to settling things with their fists in his opinion.
Rollo returned to where Tom and Jed stood, and dropped the stick between the two men. He barked once, tail wagging, as he waited expectantly for one of them to toss it again.
Jed only paused a moment before stooping down for the stick. He gave it a hard throw, his eyes staying on Rollo as the dog ran after it. “Ain’t sayin’ I didn’t deserve it,” he admitted. “But ain’t sayin’ Derek didn’t deserve what he got either.”
“Probably so,” Tom agreed, watching his dog chase after the stick. Rollo seemed to have a limitless supply of energy, and there were days when Tom envied the canine.
“We’re too small a group to let these sort of things happen the way it did today,” he said finally. “The last thing we need is to be fighting among ourselves. With this many people cooped up in the house we’ll never be sweetness and light, but we need to make sure things don’t get out of control. You follow what I’m saying, Jed?”
“Yessir,” Jed said, still focused on Rollo. He knew Tom was right and that he should learn to not let himself lose control like that. He also knew it was easy saying that now than it would be remembering it later. “I’ll try.”
“Back in the day,” Tom drawled as the dog picked up the stick and started back, “before the army became a kinder and gentler organization, sometimes we settled disputes outside normal channels. We’d get a group together behind the barracks after hours, break out the boxing gear, and the two parties would go at it under controlled conditions.”
Jed smirked, though it didn’t sound like a bad idea. “Never done real boxing before, but guess I could learn. But it ain’t like I planned on fightin’ Derek. Juss happened.”
Tom turned to the younger man. “You’ve got to learn to keep your temper in check, Jed. Until you do, you’re vulnerable to any idiot with a big mouth that wants to get you to stop thinking. This isn’t the old world anymore: In this day and age a hair trigger temper can get you killed, you and the people you care about.”
His expression hardening, Jed gave a short nod. He couldn’t let that happen. Taking a deep breath to ease the tightness in his chest, he tried a smile. “Got any advice? Count to ten or somethin’?”
Tom smirked a bit. “Hell, if I had good advice on that I’d have made it to Sergeant Major of the Army and then gone on to a public speaking career after that.” He snorted and picked the stick from Rollo’s mouth as the dog returned for another round of fetch. A scratch behind the ears was dispensed before Tom sent the canine chasing after the stick once again. “I’m not saying keeping control of your temper is easy, I know it isn’t. One trick is to remember is that honor doesn’t do anyone any good if you’re dead or injured. When someone’s goading you, they want you to react in a certain way, and doing that means you’re giving them control over your actions. Don’t let them get that control.”
The words sunk down to his gut. The last thing Jed wanted was to be somebody’s puppet. He’d just never thought of it like that before. His lips pursed tight. He’d have to find another way then. Maybe digging up boxing gloves on the next raid wouldn’t be a bad idea.
After a few more seconds of silence he said, “I gotta go in. Get washed up.”
Tom patted the other man on the shoulder, glad that he was at least thinking over his words. “Get that eye looked at, you’re gonna have a beauty of a shiner by morning. I’ll be in after while, still need to try and wear out the puppy here.”
Jed gave a breath of a laugh. “Good luck with that one; mine never seems to get tired,” he said, heading for the house.